


a mother's love

by wrennette



Series: Trashpile: A Compendium of Unfinished Fics [14]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, WARNING: spousal abuse, Warning: Tobias Snape, Warning: attempted suicide, Warning: child abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-01
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-11-07 14:19:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11060772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wrennette/pseuds/wrennette
Summary: She had failed as a mother, and because she couldn’t stand up to her husband, her son had suffered his whole life until, now that Lily Evans Potter was gone, he thought there was no reason for his own life to continue. Well, Eileen wasn’t going to take that lying down.





	a mother's love

**Author's Note:**

> Time travel AU. **WARNING:** Discussion of spousal abuse, child abuse, and attempted suicide.

Eileen took a deep breath, steeling her nerve. She had to do this. Earlier this very evening she had nearly lost her only son. She had found him with slit wrists in the bathtub, the Dark Mark black against his pale skin. Her poor broken boy, and it was her own fault. She knew it, by the wrath of Hera she knew it. 

She had failed as a mother, and because she couldn’t stand up to her husband, her son had suffered his whole life until, now that Lily Evans Potter was gone, he thought there was no reason for his own life to continue. Well, Eileen wasn’t going to take that lying down. 

Time travel wasn’t exactly reliable she knew. Merlin’s saggy left nut, it was probably about one of the most dangerous things a magic user could attempt. But Eileen was pretty sure it was also about her only option. She needed to go back, get herself and her boy away from Tobias. At the same time, she didn’t want to damage the friendship he had with Lily either, that girl was special, and Eileen was certain that the two of them had been paired souls.

With another deep breath, Eileen dropped the last ingredient into the kettle. There was a great, silent clap of white light, and her body collapsed to the floor even as her spirit raced backwards through time. Hunting, the disembodied bit of Eileen found the perfect moment. The first time Tobias had raised his hand to her, the first time Severus had performed accidental magic. 

He had never been a kind husband, but they had been happy enough until he learned his son was a wizard, his wife a witch. The beating she had taken in Severus’ place had caused her to miscarry, and the violent ending of her unborn child’s life had left her barren. She wasn’t sure she could save her unborn child, but she could save her Severus, her beloved boy. 

The spirit reached out gently, brushing against the soul of Eileen in that moment, feeling the fear and helplessness and self hatred. The spirit acknowledged those things, comforted that long ago soul, and then slipped into Eileen’s body beside it, opening itself and giving that past soul knowledge.

In 1963, Eileen Snape straightened herself, and did magic for the first time since running away from her family home. She wandlessly pushed, and Tobias stumbled back from her. She steeled herself and met his eyes, refusing to bow before him. 

“You’ll not hit me or our son Tobias Snape,” Eileen intoned firmly. The power gathering about her lifted her dark hair around her face as if she stood in a windstorm. Her purple grey eyes lit with power and crackled with lightning. “If ye cannot be a man, you’ll leave this house. I’ll not have a craven, child beating coward eating at my table.”

For a moment, Tobias was silent, dark eyes wide with amazement. While they had screaming rows often enough, Eileen had never stated her case so calmly or firmly. Her wand flew to her hand, and she raised it menacingly. 

“Make your choice. I’ll file a report either way, you’ll not get away with raising a hand to me or Severus,” Eileen promised, eyes flashing. Tobias swallowed thickly, and ran. The door to the street slammed closed behind him, and Eileen shrank down into herself, mind rapidly processing the new information. The younger soul agreed with the elder though. Anything to save their sweet Severus. 

Sighing, Eileen sat, pulling her young son into her arms. He was just a toddler, safe and warm and smelling of baby powder. She breathed a shuddering sigh of relief, burying her nose in his soft little neck. Severus was safe for now. For how long, she couldn’t say for certain, but she wouldn’t back down this time. 

Bundling Severus into his pen, Eileen went through the house quickly, gathering everything that was her own. When Tobias had been working, so had she, brewing potions on the side and saving up for Severus’ schooling. She would have to dip into that money, but she was fairly certain that if she did, they could afford to move into the nicer side of town. She’s have to take up a job, but she was fairly certain that she could find a position in an apothecary or brewing to order.

Once she had everything, and it was rather sad that it fit easily into her old school trunk with hardly a shrinking charm used, she shrank the whole trunk and pocketed it. Gathering Severus back up, Eileen used a shawl to bundle him against her back securely. She took a deep breath. Gringotts first, then the Police, then an estate agent. 

At the bank, Eileen checked with the goblins to find her exact balance, then arranged for a blank cheque. That done, Eileen apparated back to the house, then walked straight backed to the local constabulary and filed a report against her husband for raising his hand to herself and her child. She warned them also that she might be changing her address soon if Tobias couldn’t change his behavior. The bobby blinked a bit at that, but nodded, not arguing.

Tobias didn’t return to the house for another three days, and Eileen used the time to coddle Severus, brew like crazy, and clean. The galleons would come in handy, and while she wasn’t an acknowledged Potions Mistress, she did have an apothecary's license. When Tobias did return, he was stumbling and slurring, drunker than Eileen had ever seen him before. She chased him back out of the house and barred the doors, then called the police on him. 

Tobias fought the bobbies when they came, and Eileen sighed softly. He wouldn’t change, and she wasn’t going to let him ruin her life. She refused to come get him from the drunk tank, and filed for a divorce, glad she hadn’t told him of her ancestry, glad she hadn’t gone through with a bonding, which would have been much more difficult to dissolve. 

That night, she looked through the papers from the estate agent, and in the morning, she arranged to see the three houses that she could afford. They were smaller than the terraced house she lived in now, but judicious use of wizard space could fix that once she could afford to have magical builders in. After the viewings, she chose a nice little bungalow on the edge of the nicer side of town. The main advantage was in the size of the yard, which would allow her to grow her own ingredients, and maybe even put in a small glass house.

Eileen didn’t take a single bit of furniture with her when she moved, not wanting to give Tobias any reason to come looking for her. All of their furnishings on Spinner’s End had been bought second hand when they wed, and Eileen went back to the junkers to furnish the new house. After all, she had no reason to hide her abilities any more, and so she could use her magic to repair and refresh things as needed. 

The house was soon a nice little home for her and Severus, and Eileen brewed constantly to provide for them. Although she didn’t like to, she also found a child care center where she could leave Severus a few days a week. He was a quiet baby, happy to sit in his pen and play with his toys or look at pictures in a book, but she didn’t want him in the lab when she was working on certain potions, as the fumes might harm his growing lungs.

Two years after Eileen left her husband, Tobias died, cirrhosis of the liver. It was a shift from the timeline the older half of her soul had escaped, and she knew that their split had already begun to shift things. She took that as a good thing though; she never wanted to again see her beloved son in that crimson tub. Now though, she had two small children, Severus, and her little daughter, Artemisia Sofonisba Prince. She had reverted to her maiden name, and had Severus’ name changed as well, to Severus Taranis Prince, after her own father. 

When he passed, Tobias’ papers still listed Eileen as his next of kin, and while he hadn’t much, their old house was in his name. After a bit of math, Eileen put the Spinner’s End house up for let. She split the rent, once she found a tenant, three ways. One third went into their living expenses account, but the rest was split evenly between the children for their schooling. The added income was definitely a boon, but Eileen kept brewing regardless. Severus and Artemisia were down for Hogwarts, but she wanted to send them in something other than second hand robes. 

When Severus was five, he had enough control of his temper, and his accidental magic, so Eileen enrolled him in kindergarten. Little Artemisia didn’t much like losing her big brother and playmate, but Severus enjoyed it thoroughly. He was an exceptionally clever child, and had known his letters and numbers for some time. He was a bit shy at first, but the early socialization from the daycare he had attended helped him a great deal, and soon enough he was friendly with a number of other children, and wanting to join scouts and go play pickup football of an afternoon.

He was too young yet for scouts, but Eileen was glad to see him making friends. It would be difficult of course, for him to leave them behind when he went off to Hogwarts. But having the ability to make friends with all sorts would stand him in good stead. Eileen made sure he was doing well in school though, and also began talking more about magic and the magical world as he was more able to understand.

When Severus entered the primary, he was a fairly popular if quiet and studious boy. Eileen couldn’t help but smile each time he had friends over or went off to play with the other boys though. There were outings to the zoo and even to football games in Manchester. He turned six, and joined scouts, and there were hikes and swimming and boating and identifying plants and birds. He excelled at the botany aspects, Eileen having already begun teaching him the herbs she used in her potions.

It was second grade when Severus returned from school talking about the new family. The Evans’. He was more of an outdoorsman than the first time Eileen had raised him, and due to the influence of the other boys was in somewhat of a ‘girls are gross’ phase, but he was obviously struck with young Lily from the start. Eileen’s spirits were boosted further when the teacher, seeing that Lily was clever like Severus, assigned them to work together for the science fair.

With Severus going to muggle school this go around, Eileen had been reading on muggle history and science so she could help him, and knew that her son was far above grade level due to their discussions. Lily turned out to be truly quite clever though, and soon the two of them were nigh inseparable. It helped of course, that while very pretty, Lily was willing to run and play with the boys. Her older sister sneered when Lily came home from school smudged with dirt, but Lily and Severus were fast friends. Eileen’s twinned souls congratulated one another proudly.

Through Severus and Lily’s friendship, Eileen got to know the Evans family, who were a warm and proud group. The only one of the lot Eileen couldn’t quite like was judgmental little Petunia. She tried, but the girl really was a snot. In the previous go round, Severus had complained bitterly about Lily’s sister, and Eileen now understood why. 

Eileen was just glad her own daughter was better behaved. Artemisia was in kindergarten that year, and her and Severus walked to school together. In the afternoons, Severus would go to scouts or play football, and Artemisia would have piano and dance lessons. Lily soon joined the dance school Artemisia attended, liking the idea of being a ballerina, and Severus finally gave into his mother and started voice training. He made a beautiful boy soprano, and with her future knowledge, Eileen was certain he’d grow into an excellent baritone when his voice broke.

It was the summer after second grade when Severus dragged Lily home to show his mother that she was a witch. He had never before met someone outside of his immediate family who could do magic, and it cemented her place as his best friend. After all, he had been keeping his own magical ability secret from his playmates since he was five, and now that he was eight, that seemed a lifetime. But now it was their secret.

Eileen accompanied the children back to the Evans’, and carefully explained magic to Lily’s parents. Petunia was only ten then, and so Eileen made clear that Petunia might yet show signs, but that in families like theirs, both children didn’t always show signs. She volunteered though, to bring all four of them to Upper Flagley, a mixed magical and muggle village in Yorkshire, soon. She also suggested starting to put aside some money for Lily’s education.

With their shared secret to bind them, Severus and Lily were more inseparable than ever. As a result, Artemisia also befriended the gregarious redhead; the Prince siblings were very close, and while they were a few years distant in age, they spent a great deal of time together. As a result, Lily had to become a bit more patient to deal with the younger girl, and Artemisia became more outgoing, and more willing to share.

Eileen, with her foreknowledge, made sure to praise all four houses equally, and also spoke about her worries regarding blood-purists. After all, it was an arranged marriage that had driven her from her home, and while she loved a great deal about the wizarding culture in which she was raised, she was no proponent of such betrothals, which were usually the domain of the aristocratic purebloods. She also taught Severus and Lily as much magical theory as they were willing to listen to, and about magical plants and animals and how to prepare ingredients and brew, but kept her books on the Darker magics up out of sight and away from small hands.

By the time their Hogwarts letters came, Lily and Severus were able to answer questions from Eileen’s OWL level books. They weren’t that far ahead uniformly, and each had their own strengths. But they were ahead, and while Eileen didn’t much care which House they went to, she had a hope that both would end up in Ravenclaw. 

As it was though, Eileen, with the Evans as company, brought them to do their school shopping over Easter break, and was, much to her secret joy, able to buy Severus the standard uniform robes plus a few other sets, new. She offered new books as well, but he actually preferred her old ones. So that money was spent instead on the books that were different, or supplemental reading material. 

September first was agonizing for Eileen. Severus would have to keep to the path with only written help from her from here out. She was fairly confident that she had ingrained in him the values necessary to keep from the Darker path. All the same, she eagerly awaited the letter he had promised with news of his sorting. Her heart dropped when she read that Lily, once again, was sorted to Gryffindor, and Severus once more to Slytherin. It was clear that Severus was somewhat upset as well.

As the school year progressed and the letters continued though, it was clear that her strong willed son was willing to fight for Lily’s friendship. He made few friends in his own house, but soon had friends in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, and was even friendly with some of Lily’s Gryffindor friends. He was also though, almost constantly tormented by a group of Gryffindor boys in his own year. It came down to fist fights and hexing in the halls more than once, but Severus had developed far too much pride to take insults without responding, and his clever brain gave him a fast and far too smart mouth at times. 

Somehow though, they survived the year. Severus returned one of the most disciplined students in his year, but also one of the highest ranked academically. If he had been the one starting the fights, Eileen would have punished him at home in addition to the discipline the school had meted out. Instead, she sat him down and they had a long conversation about controlling his flashfire temper. It didn’t help either, that Lily’s temper was just as fiery, and that either of them would defend the other without question. Remembering her own parent’s sometimes misguided teachings, Eileen started teaching both children occlumency to help them step back and analyze situations before acting. 

The summer wasn’t all lessons though. Severus and Lily volunteered to help Eileen with her brewing, and Severus played pick up football with his old chums from the neighborhood. Lily took her dance lessons back up, and piano as well. There were also trips to the seaside and up into the dales, and each of them went to visit Hogwarts friends and had Hogwarts friends to visit. All in all it was a nice, calm summer. Eileen knew though, that things would soon begin to worsen.

Second year passed much the same as first, although Eileen was in a constant state of dread. Artemisia would be off to Hogwarts the following year, and Eileen would be alone in the house. Severus joined the school choir, and also the duelling club that fall, and was given the solo for boy soprano at the Christmas concert. Eileen didn’t much like that Dumbledore encouraged Christian holidays when there were still quite a few families like their own that were pagan, but she was proud of her boy nonetheless. He wouldn’t be singing soprano much longer though.

As usual since becoming good friends, Severus and Lily shared their birthday party. As during the year before, it involved a fancy dinner with both their families on the last night before they returned to Hogwarts. Eileen was fairly certain that they held another joint party closer to Lily’s actual birthday at the end of the month at school, as well. 

That year, Severus befriended, by way of tutoring, students in all four houses. The two he became closest with though, were two of his year mates; Augustus Rookwood from Ravenclaw and Remus Lupin from Gryffindor. Lupin had previously tagged along with the Gryffindor boys who harassed Severus, but their treatment of the young Slytherin had rubbed him wrong, and he had distanced himself from them as much as possible over the previous year. 

The two of them were both studious, with dry, mostly hidden senses of humor, and got on quite well together. Lupin also got on well with Lily, and Rookwood did as well. The four of them along with third and fourth year Gryffindors Alice Warrick and Frank Longbottom, and first year Slytherin Regulus Black were soon a common sight about Hogwarts. Severus did his best to watch out for the younger Black, who was mercilessly bullied by the Gryffindors in Severus’ year, including his own brother. 

Having the same enemies was what first brought them together, but they soon found other shared interests, as they were both rather ambitious boys. Regulus’ best mate though, was a Ravenclaw, Barty Crouch Jr, and the two of them were almost as inseparable as Severus and Lily. They made for a rather large group altogether, although Frank spent almost as much time off with his own year mates. 

A very welcome side effect though, was that when their large group was together, the three annoying Gryffindors Potter, Black and Pettigrew didn’t dare bother them. Even if it was only Severus, Augustus, and Remus, they were usually left alone, as the three of them plus Lily were the top students in their year. Lily made some female friends as well, mostly Augustus’ housemates from Ravenclaw; while she certainly had plenty of bravery, Lily was more analytical than most of the other Gryffindor girls, and less inclined to be concerned with her outfit or hairdo.


End file.
